Watchcase



April 12, 1949. E. vE o-r 2,467,062

WATCH CASE Filed Oct. 21, 1947 INVENTOR.

HENRI E. VERMOT BY ATTY.

Patented Apr. 12, 1949 WATCHCASE Henri E. Vermot, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Hamilton Watch Company, Lancaster, Pa.

Application October 21, 1947, Serial No. 781,235

4 Claims. 1

This invention is directed to a new case for watch movements and is particularly designed to provide a tight fitting case which will tend to exclude dust and moisture. Certain waterproof watch-cases have been manufactured but have proved unsatisfactory in performance. The present invention is directed to a practical case which tends to seal the movement from dust and moisture.

The object of the present invention is to provide a three piece unit which may be quickly assembled or disassembled without the use of special tools for that purpose.

' A further object of the present invention is to provide a case designed to oifer maximum protection to the movement of the watch with particular care to the balance wheel and hairspring assembly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a case which is formed with a lower movement receiving well and an upper collar adapted to receive the bezel and crystal.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein described may be made within the scope of What is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a cross section of the assembled case.

Figure 2 is a cross section of the bezel portion.

Figure 3 is a cross section of the main body portion.

Referring particularly to the drawing, a body portion I is formed with an annular internal shoulder 2 dividing the body section into a movement receiving well 3 and an upstanding collar 4.

The movement receiving well 3 has sloping sides 5 which position and steady the movement and a tubular opening 6 to receive the winding stem of the movement. A crown such as forms the subject of my patent application, Serial #555,291, is adapted to fit against the outer edge 1 of the tubular opening and to effectively seal such opening against the admission of dust and moisture.

The upstanding collar 4 is provided centrally with an internal annular rib 8 which is rounded and of a diameter held very closely to desired dimension. The upstanding collar is recessed 2 below the rib as at 9 while above the rib the walls of the collar extend vertically as shown at H].

A bezel portion II is formed with a depending annular collar 12 having an external rounded portion l3, the outside diameter of which is greater than the inside diameter of the annular rib 8. Extending upward and outward from the depending collar I2 is a curved portion l4 terminating in a shoulder [55. Seated against this shoulder and surrounding the curved portion [4 is a packing ring [6. The bezel portion is further formed with a crystal receiving rim I! which is provided with an annular recess I8 in which is seated a resilient packing washer l9.

Adapted to fit into the rim ll is a crystal 20 which is formed as a spherical section and has its lower edge rounded as at 2|.

Assuming that the movement (not shown) is in place in the well 3, the bezel portion I l is pressed into the upstanding collar 4 of the body portion of the case, the rounded edge l3 of the depending collar of the bezel portion snapping past the annular interior rib 8 of the body portion. This places the bezel in the position shown in Figure l with the rib 8 bearing against the depending collar portion l2 forcing the vertical wall lfl against the resilient washer US to provide a seal between the vertical portion Ill and the curved portion M of the bezel. Contact between the rib 8 and the lower depending rounded edge l3 holds the shoulder l5 firmly against the upper edge 22 of the upstanding collar 4 of the body portion.

To complete the assembly operation, the crystal 20 is pressed into the rim l1 forcing the resilient packing washer I9 into the position shown in Figure 1, with the slanting edge 23 of the crystal bearing against the correspondingly angled edge 24 of the rim II.

This provides a case which may be assembled or disassembled with conventional watchmaking tools and which will reasonably exclude dust and moisture from the movement.

What is claimed is:

1. A watch-case comprising a body portion formed with a movement receiving well, an upstanding collar integral with said well and provided with an internal annular rib having a rounded face, said upstanding collar being provided with a recess directly beneath said internal annular rib, a bezel portion formed with a depending collar having a rounded outside face with a diameter slightly greater than the internal diameter of the annular rib but less than the diameter of the recess beneath the rib, packing means carried by said bezel portion and adapted to engage the upstanding collar of said body portion compressing against the internal annular rib and a crystal fitting said bezel portion.

2. A watch-case comprising a body portion formed with a movement receiving well, an upstanding collar integral with said well and formed with a lower recessed portion, an intermediate annular ribbed portion and a vertical upper portion, a bezel portion having a depending collar cooperating with said rib and recess, a spherical shaped portion immediately above said depending collar on said bezel portion, a packing ring compressed between said spherical portion of said bezel portion and said vertical portion of said body portion, a rim having an annular recess on said bezel portion, a packing ring in said recess and a crystal fitting saidrim and engaging said packing ring.

3. A watch-case comprising a body portion formed with a movement receiving well, an upstanding collar integral with said well and formed with a lower annular recessed portion, an 'intermediate annular ribbed portion having a rounded face and an upper vertical Wall portion, a bezel portion, an annular depending collar integral with said bezel portion, the outside diameter of said collar being slightly greater than the inside diameter of said rib portion, a spherical section immediately above said depending collar on said bezel portion, a packing ring surrounding said spherical section and adapted to be compressed between said spherical section and said well upstanding collar, a ring portion integral with said bezel portion having an annular recess and downwardly diverging side walls, a packing ring in said recess and a crystal fitting said rim engaging and compressing said packing ring, being maintained in position by the downwardly diverging walls of said rim.

4. A watch-case comprising a body portion formed with a movement receiving well, an upstanding collar integral with said well formed with a lower recessed portion, an intermediate inwardly projecting annular rib and a vertical upper portion, a bezel portion having a depending collar formed with a lower annular rim cooperating with said rib and recess, a spherical body portion above said rim, a packing ring on said spherical portion, a rim portion formed above :said spherical portion with an annular shoulder and frusto-conical walls for receiving a crystal, an annular recess formed in said rrusto-conical walls, a packing washer in said recess and adapted to be compressed against said walls by said crystal.

HENRI VERMOT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 71,873 Switzerland Apr. 17, 1916 143,446 Switzerland M Mar. 16, 1931 192,399 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1937 197,347 Switzerland July 16, 1938 215,176 Switzerland Sept. 1, 1941 

